Dubai: Real estate capital will continue to flow despite the current global financial storm, a conference on global capital markets was told at Cityscape Dubai on Monday.
Steve Williams of UK-based Real Capital said real estate capital was a key driving force in global markets. The UAE is the third largest investor in the world behind the US and Europe.
Fadi Moussalli, the regional director of Jones Lang LaSalle (Middle East and North Africa), said real estate was deemed a safe haven, especially for sovereign wealth funds, of which there was an abundance in the region.
The key driver of real estate investment in the Middle East is oil surpluses, although crude prices are falling sharply.
"GCC countries save 70 per cent of their oil revenues which feed into their SWF... also ego and pride, everyone wants the tallest, biggest, highest towers, we want our name to shine. This is essentially an emotional driver," he said.
Also, investors' local successes with real estate investment prompted them to replicate the models off shore.
Robert Lee, managing director of investment projects at Nakheel, however, said the company was taking a wait-and-see approach to the European and American markets, although it had investment plans overseas.
Mohammad Al Tawash, vice-chairman and president of Bahrain-based RealCapita, said the 30 per cent price correction in London, for example, was an opportunity, but the company "held back".
According to Anthony Juliano, managing director of the Dubai Investment Group, there was great value in public transactions and public equity in off-shore real estate.
"We are paying a lot of attention there right now," he said.
